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Q & A: Midget Ignition Wiring

I recently dragged home a refugee midget that with a little clean up, should be running for this summer. My first hurdle is electrical. The previous owner replaced the battery, ignition switch, points/ condenser, cap and rotor, coil, plugs and wires--but had not gotten it running. At first, I had no spark whatsoever. By switching to known good wires, cap, rotor, and coil from my other midget, i got a feeble spark when i first started cranking, then nothing until just as I released the key. I decided to try jumpering 12v directly to the hot side of the coil and then I did get a nice steady stream of spark--so I suspect a wiring problem. My next plan is to try and trace the circuit back thru the harness and clean/ tighten each connection. I swapped the fuse box for a freshly cleaned (not new) unit. I am crossing my fingers that the car is not simply diabolically possessed! My problem is, I cannot find a wiring diagram that exactly matches my car--it appears that my coil is powered directly thru the ignition switch while the negative side (white with black tracer?) leads from distributor to coil and then the negative side of the tach. (I disconnected the tach suspecting a short in this circuit.) I did find one such diagram for the primary circuit, but other parts of the same diagram don't seem to match this car. (?)

At the aftermarket ignition switch, I have green/white, light brown/grey, dark brown, and white/ red--how do these align correctly with the harness? Also, what is the relay looking box on the rh fenderwell near/ outboard of the fusebox?

There is a direct connection from the key switch to the hot side of the ignition coil. The negative side of the coil is correctly connected to the distributor and to the tachometer.

The fusebox is wired "upside down" f... read more